College Students Can Get Depressed...Get Treatment...and Get Better.

College offers new experiences and challenges. This can be exciting—it can also be stressful and make you, or someone you know, feel sad. But when "the blues" last for weeks, or interfere with academic or social functioning, it may be clinical depression. Clinical depression is a common, frequently unrecognized illness that can be effectively treated.

What is Clinical Depression?

Clinical depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your ability to work and study, and how you interact with people.

Clinical depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot "pull themselves together" and get better.

Depression can be successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few weeks.

Types of Depressive Illness

Depressive illnesses come in different forms. The following are general descriptions of the three most prevalent, though for an individual, the number, severity and duration of symptoms will vary.

Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms that interfere with your ability to work, sleep, eat, and enjoy once pleasurable activities. These impairing episodes of depression can occur once, twice or several times in a lifetime.

Symptoms of Major Depression

• Sadness, anxiety, or "empty" feelings
• Decreased energy, fatigue, being "slowed down"
• Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
• Sleep disturbances (insomnia, oversleeping or waking much earlier than usual)
• Appetite and weight changes (either loss or gain)
• Feelings of hopelessness, guilt and worthlessness
• Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts
• Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering
• Irritability or excessive crying
• Chronic aches and pains not explained by another physical condition

A less intense type of depression, dysthymia, involves long-term, chronic symptoms that are less severe, but keep you from functioning at your full ability and from feeling well.

Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression)

Bipolar disorder is a type of depressive illness that involves mood swings that go from periods of depression to periods of being overly "up" and irritable. Sometimes the mood swings are dramatic or rapid, but most often they occur gradually, over several weeks. The "up" or manic phase can include increased energy and activity, insomnia, grandiose notions and impulsive or reckless behavior, including sexual promiscuity.

Medication usually is effective in controlling manic symptoms and preventing the recurrence of both manic and depressive episodes.

During a manic episode, I stayed awake for 5 days straight, but had a lot of energy. I spent my tuition on a major shopping spree and long distance phone calls. I also had sex with several guys that I hardly knew. At the time, I felt so great that I couldn't see that there were serious problems with what I was doing.—Teresa

How to Recognize Depression

The first step in defeating depression is recognizing it. It's normal to have some signs of depression some of the time. But five or more symptoms for 2 weeks or longer, or noticeable changes in usual functioning, are all factors that should be evaluated by a health or mental health professional. And remember, people who are depressed may not be thinking clearly and may need help to get help.

I kept asking myself, "How could I be depressed? I'd had a normal family life, had been getting good grades, and hadn't experienced any big trauma—where did my depression come from?"—John

NIH Publication No. 97-4266

Content provided with permission from the National Institutes of Health.

Words Can Work: Knowing the Issues, Talking With Kids can help parents to start and continue conversations about college depression.

For more information or to discuss parenting concerns please contact Partners Employee Assistance Program at 1-866-724-4EAP.

In case of emergency, please call 911 or your local hospital emergency service.